No Matter
by Zamos
Summary: A Kisame/Sakura fic. Sort of a little fluffy thing that I did instead of sleeping. Read and review please. That one meeting lead to more and then to a feeling that he'd never felt before. To her, his looks didn't matter. Says the 'A'word once...


She was very pretty. That was the first thought that had crossed his mind upon their initial meeting. Her hair, a stunning and exotic pink, caught his eye and made him look twice at the petite kunoichi with the insanely strong punch. She'd been bristling at anyone, searching for a fight. He'd been laid-back and free enough to accept her challenge. It had been a chance meeting in Wave, in a bar, on the shifty side of town. Her bright colors, hair, clothes, and eyes combined with her brazen attitude made the spineless denizens of the place slink into the shadows. It was apparent that she didn't belong there.

He didn't have much time for intense scrutiny during their match-up, which took place on a cliff just above a beautiful stretch of sandy beach. He did have time to notice that she had lovely curves and her green eyes, which had been soft and kind, if fiery, before his Samehada had begun swinging, had changed, had become hard like emeralds. Her careless glances and listless posture had changed to scrying eyes and a well disciplined fighting stance. Her grace and lithe swagger had translated over, showing him that she was no deadbeat shinobi. He had known she meant business even before she pulled on her dark leather gloves and pounded the flat arena into a shaking and roiling mass of rumbling and heaving craters and crumbling cliff. He'd been caught off balance a few times, even actually tripped once.

That one uncharacteristic stumble had cost him the match. She'd appeared in front of him and punched him so hard in the jaw that he could feel it cracking, sending him flying. Samehada had been kicked to the side and she had stood over him, eyes hard like jewels and chest heaving slightly as she tried to catch her breath. The last thing he had seen through his fading vision was her gaze softening and then filling with panic as she kneeled down, healing chakra filling her hands. He saw it even if no one else was there to do so. In that one moment, she had been worried about him.

"Kisame-kun?" the girl had called softly, shaking him. His jaw was healed, along with his twisted ankle.

"Hn?" he grunted in response.

"You can get up now. I bet that someone will get suspicious if you don't go back," she said. "We've been out here for a while now."

"Nah," he replied, cracking an eye to look up at the starry sky and the almost full moon that shone down on the sparking white beach. "I got kinda tired of our meetings being all rushed and all so I asked for a vacation. I'm free for a few more hours." That rare but stunning smile was turned down to him, and for some reason his heart began racing.

"We should get off of the edge of the cliff at least. I don't really think it will be holding up much longer." He accepted her hand up and retrieved his sword, able to feel the breakers crash against the rock face. She was right in assuming that it was too weak to support them. Almost as soon as they'd hopped down to the beach, it crumbled into the ocean. "Thank you for coming out to spar with me again, Kisame-kun. If you didn't, I would have cracked years ago."

"It's not like I don't like coming out here. It's actually really nice. Since that first time two years ago, I couldn't help but look forward to whooping your ass in a fight." He chuckled, knowing that he had succeeded in getting a rise out of her even before she spoke.

"Maybe a year ago, but you know that you haven't won the last three fights. If I had to say, I'd bet that I'm getting stronger than you," the girl argued. She wasn't actually angry or offended. She was used to his teasing ways.

"I've just been going easy on you since I've been in a good mood. You'd quit if I never let you win. A person can only take so much defeat, you know?" he gruffly answered, throwing down his black cloak with the red clouds before sitting on it. His female companion took a seat next to him.

"Really, Kisame-kun, you know I'm not the kind of person to give up just because I'm not getting my way. You really hurt my feelings with that one," she gasped, feigning hurt as her hand rose dramatically to cover her heart. There was a shine in her eyes that had him constantly having to break free or be sucked into the tempting depths of her soul.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Don't start crying now. I also know you're not that tender." They lapsed into a comfortable silence, listening to the steady shush of waves rolling over the sand, crashing over the others in an unceasing battle for dominance over the shore. They climbed up the gentle slope, some strong enough to get up a bit higher before slowing, barely washing over the girl's red-painted toenails.

Every few moments the man would glance over at the angelic woman by his side, feeling his fingers itch to run through her beautiful pink tresses that floated on the gentle breeze, locks that he had never seen anywhere else in the world on anyone else ever, to caress her perfectly smooth and slightly rosy cheek, still flushed from the prior workout, or to brush her sensuous pink lips, the ones that delivered that heart stopping smile that made him feel like he was full of butterflies. It was strange to him how she could even stand to be in his presence. Kisame was under no delusion that he was handsome, or even bearable at best. He was by no means the kind of man that a ravishingly beautiful female, like the one he was unable to keep his eyes off of, would want to spend a romantic night on a sparkling beach with. Still though, she came out every three weeks to spar with him and then wind down just watching the waves and the stars with him, no more than a few inches away.

"You have been going easy on me lately, truthfully. Why? Am I beginning to bore you?" she asked. Kisame snorted, trying to ignore how her luminous sea green eyes gazed at him with something akin to fear or worry buried deep in their recesses, how her mouth curved as she formed the words, pleading for reassurance.

"No, never that. Really though…? I guess it's because… I like you." He was glad of his strange blue skin then, his blush made him purple, unable to be distinguished in the darkness. Again, his heart was racing. Would she pretend that she didn't get the deeper meaning behind the words? Would she play it off now and never come back again? Would she run? Would she…

"Oh, is that all? I've been going harder, trying to impress you, I guess, since I like you, too," was the whispered answer. Her face was turned down, just as his had been only moments before. She was blushing. Kisame stared in shock. He'd never thought he'd hear that from anyone, especially not the extraordinary kunoichi he'd been trying to convince himself that he had no extra feelings for over the last sixteen months.

"I just don't get you. You didn't flinch that first time we met when you saw my face. You didn't cower during our spar. You came back and you keep coming back. And now… now you tell me that you like me despite the way that I look? Sometimes I worry about your mental health," Kisame said. His voice almost lightened at the end as he tried to force himself into joking mode. It was a kind of self-defense. If it hurt, make fun of it till no one can see the pain. The girl took a breath before she answered quietly. He should have known better. After all the time that they spent together, she'd see right through the feeble distraction.

"So you're different. Everyone in the world is. There's nothing wrong with being a little blue either. As I see it, you wear yours on the outside while I hide mine on the inside. It's proof that you're braver than me." Kisame sucked in a breath and gazed at the girl next to him. Her eyes, deep and dark and full of some emotion that he'd never seen directed towards him before, were locked on his, as always, showing no fear or revulsion for him.

"M-maybe next time we could go… um… out to dinner or something like that after we fight," the breathless blue-skinned and haired ninja suggested, preparing to be shot down. He nearly crumpled in relief when her heart-melting smile graced him again with its presence. His heart was thumping in his ears when she let her pale hand cover his trembling fingers, warm eyes twinkling in the moonlight.

"If I win, you pay, Kisame-kun," she challenged.

"If I win, I'll still pay. Okay, Sakura-chan?" He was grinning, loving how she didn't cringe at the sight of his shark-like teeth.

"Right now, though, since we both have the time. I think a walk along the beach would be nice. Do you think so?" Sakura asked. She stood as he did, shaking sand off of his cloak. Kisame nodded, heart stopping when she let her fingers entwine with his. He knew that soon they'd have to part again, knew that they were of different origins, of different allegiances, but he knew also that his Sakura was worth the hardships that would come in the future, knew that she felt the same. He knew above all, that he'd found the one person to whom his looks didn't matter as much as to the rest of the superficial world, and he intended to keep her.


End file.
